


It's Not Paranoia If They Are Really Out To Get You

by QueenOfThePigeons



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Harry's sixth year really sucks, Hogwarts Sixth Year, M/M, Nice!Draco, Remember kids: Love potions are date rape, They are sarcastic little assholes but I love them, but Draco is being a good friend (and totally not jealous at all)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-26
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2019-02-07 06:04:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12834858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenOfThePigeons/pseuds/QueenOfThePigeons
Summary: All Harry wants is one quiet year at Hogwarts. Instead he has to jump around through memories to find out how to kill an evil magical dictator, is stalked by half of the female student body and has to somehow survive the unresolved romantic tension between his two best friends. And as if that isn't exhausting enough already Draco Malfoy decides that he needs a redemption arc. Actually, Harry doesn't mind that part that much.Or what could have been if Draco Malfoy had asked for help at the beginning of their sixth year.





	1. Chapter One

„What’s wrong with this thing?”, Zabini asked angrily and tried to shut the door with more force. Harry, whose foot had been painfully rammed by the sliding door, quickly shoved it open, scurried into the room and jumped onto Zabini’s temporarily empty seat to pull himself up the luggage rack.

Draco Malfoy’s eyes lingered at the place Harry’s ankle had been moments ago and for a short but scary moment Harry was sure he had been caught. But then Malfoy just laid back down on his made up bed that consisted of two seats and Pansy Parkinson’s lap and laughed at Zabini who had fallen right onto Goyle when Harry had rushed past him.

„So“, Malfoy said. „What did Slughorn want from you?“

„Just tried to kiss the arses of students who are well connected.“, replied Zabini before laughing. “But he couldn’t find many.”

Malfoy didn’t seem to be impressed by that reply. “Who but you did he invite?”, he asked.

“McLaggen from Gryffindor-”

“Well, yes, his uncle has quite some influence in the ministry.”, Malfoy mused.

“- some Belby dude from Ravenclaw.-“

“But he’s such a bone head.”, Parkinson tossed in.

“- and Longbottom, Potter and that Weasley-Girl.”, Zabini finished quickly before his companions had another chance to interrupt him.

Malfoy furrowed his brow. “Longbottom, really?”

Zabini shrugged. “I guess so. He was there after all.”

“What could possibly be special about _Longbottom_? And we all know what he wanted from Potter, wanted to see the bloody chosen one, but the Weaselette? What’s with her?”

“A lot of guys like her.”, Parkinson said. “Even you think she’s pretty, don’t you, Blaise?”

“Like I would ever touch a blood traitor like her.”, Zabini replied coldly.

Harry’s heart started to beat faster. Even though he hated to hear his friends being talked about in such a manor he was sure that Malfoy would love this topic. A few nasty remarks about the golden boy here, a rant about blood purity there and soon their conversation would be about Voldemort. Harry was sure that Malfoy wouldn’t be able to resist bragging to his friends about the plans he was involved in. To his surprise and huge disappointment Malfoy just narrowed his eyes, complained that the conversation was a bore and demanded Crabbe’s Comic.

The rest of the train ride was extraordinarily ordinary. Parkinson had a conversation with Zabini about his newest stepfather, who, to Zabinis’s annoyance, was only a few years older than himself and had, according to the Syltherin girl, a really nice arse. Crabbe and Goyle didn’t talk much, but when they did, Harry would have almost sworn it was Gigantus because they weren’t much more comprehensible than Grawp had been last year. He started to really regret coming here and missing out on eating some sweets with his friends when Malfoy looked up from the borrowed comic and told his companions to get dressed. “I can see Hogwarts already.”

Harry quietly pushed himself further against the wall of the compartment to avoid being hit by any trunks that were pulled down from the luggage rack and prayed that Ron and Hermione would take his belongings with them to the castle since he would be unable to leave the compartment until the Slytherins below him had left.

“You can go.”, Malfoy said to his companions. “I’ll catch up with you.”  

There was some annoyed mumbling from his companions, but they did as they had been told nonetheless. As soon as the blonde was seemingly alone he pulled down the roller bind at the door and laid a silencing charm over the compartment. Was that it? Would he get to see what had been so important that Malfoy even refused to brag about it to his friends? Harry slowly crawled to the front of the luggage rack to get a better view when suddelnly –  

“Come out, Potter. I know exactly that you’re there.”

Harry was so surprised that he fell out of the rack and right onto the floor with a loud bang.

Malfoy grinned. “Bet that hurt. Suits you right for spying on me.”

“I didn’t … I wasn’t … Screw you.”

“Gross, Potter, do you kiss your … You know what, never mind. Too easy.”

Did Malfoy just refuse a chance to make fun of Harry for being an orphan? How fucking hard did he hit his head when falling down that rack?

“Are you going to get up or do you plan to stay on that floor forever?”

Right, he was lying on the floor, right next to Malfoy. Malfoy, who was compared to his usual self, acting disturbingly nice. Deciding that it was safe to move without being kicked – not that he was scared of Malfoy, thank you very much – Harry got up and grabbed the door handle. Better to go to Madame Pomfrey to get that head injury checked up.

“Wait.”, Malfoy said when Harry tried to slide open the door. _Oh boy_ , Harry thought, reaching for his wand. _Here we go_.

“I need your help.” Wait what?

“Opening and closing doors is really easy, Malfoy. See, I’ll even show you.” He slid the door open and closed it again with a grin on his face.

“Fuck you, Potter. Which one of us just fell down a fucking rack?”

“Which one of us should clean their mouth out now, before kissing their mother?”, Harry said, not even knowing why he continued the bickering with Malfoy. “Anyway, as nice as this conversation is, I really should get going. I am starting to get hungry.”

With that he opened the door again. He was already out in the corridor when he heard the faint sound of “Please … Harry.”

Blame it on his helper complex or the fact that Malfoy had actually called him Harry but with a groan he entered the compartment again. “Fine. You have five Minutes. Don’t make me regret it.”

Malfoy looked relieved. “I … thank you. I really need help and you were the only person I could think of that would possibly help me. Not that we’re friends or anything, mind you, but you are the only person that could understand, I guess? You won’t regret it, I swear!”

Harry raised an eyebrow in annoyance. “Four minutes.”

“Are you fucking serious? Okay, fine. The dark lord wants me to kill Dumbledore and lead the death eaters into Hogwarts to punish me for my father’s mistake in the ministry and I don’t want to do that, but if I don’t do it he will kill my mother and me and I really, really need help to get out of there.”

Harry was shocked. He had known that Malfoy was up to something and he couldn’t wait to tell Hermione that he had indeed told her so but never ever had he imagined that the Slytherin would come clean to him and try to get away from the death eaters. “Why do you want my help?”

“I am sorry? Have you not listened to what I just said?”

“Sure I have but isn’t that exactly what you wanted all this time? All those ‘mudbloods and blood traitors’ as you call them to die? Voldemort to take you under his wing like he did with your father?”

“Leave my father out of this, Potter!”, Malfoy said, narrowing his eyes.

“I rest my case.”

Malfoy groaned. “You’re being ridiculous. Yes, my father did some horrible things – don’t give me that look. They were really, _really_ horrible, I get it, okay? - but he is still my father, you can’t possibly expect me not to be touchy about that subject! And yeah, you are right, I am kind of an arsehole. I’ve been bullying you for the last six years - not that you didn’t deserve it - but I am no fucking killer! Come on, Potter, do you really believe that I would _actually murder_ somebody?”

Harry had to admit that Malfoy had a point there. Sure he was an absolute arsehole, not only kind of, but he didn’t seem like a cold blooded murderer. And if he really wanted to get out of that whole dark arts business Harry would be a horrible person to deny him help. After all he knew exactly what Voldemort would do to the blonde should he ever find out about his disloyalties. He would murder everybody he loved and then torture him until he begged to be killed as well. “Ok.”

“Ok? Seriously? That’s all you got to say?”

“Yeah, ok. I will help you. But you will listen to what I say and never _ever_ do I want to hear you call Hermione – or anybody else – a mudblood again. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I can do that. As long as you get my mother and me out of there I will do anything you say.”

“Great. Grab your things, we need to get out of here before the train leaves the station.”

“Don’t you think it will be a bit, oh I don’t know, suspicious if we leave the train together?”, Malfoy asked when Harry opened the compartment door a final time. “As far as I know there could be death eaters and spies everywhere.”

“Do you really think I am that stupid?”

“Yes.”

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

“Hit me in the face.”, Harry whispered when he saw Malfoy again in front of the great hall. They had split up when leaving the train, Malfoy rushing back to his fellow Slytherins and Harry joining Ron and Hermione at the carriages, where they indeed had taken his luggage and had been waiting for him.

“Mate, where have you been? We were worried.”, Ron had said and Hermione had added: “If you hadn’t been here in five minutes we would have went up to the castle and told Dumbledore you were missing.”

“Thanks, guys.”, Harry had answered. “But I am okay. It’s a long story and I will tell you after the feast.” They both hadn’t been too happy with that answer but they trusted Harry enough not to question him further at this time. “What’s the new password anyway?”

The rest of the ride up to the castle had been spend with small talk, discussions about the new safety measures at Hogwarts and what Professor Slughorn had wanted from Harry.

“What the fuck?”, Malfoy hissed back. “It’s not like I don’t think about doing that every now and then but really, Potter, what the actual fuck?”

“We need a reason to be sent to the headmaster immediately, but if you have objections …” That being said, Harry punched Malfoy straight in the face, making him tumble back with a look of pure shock on his face.  Even though his hand bloody hurt he would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy that look on Malfoy’s face.

“Potter!”, the blond screamed as he jumped at Harry and tackled him to the ground. “You’ll regret that, you git.”

Later it wouldn’t be clear if Minerva McGonnagal had been alerted of the two fighting boys by the noise they made, rolling over the floor, swearing and hitting and biting each other; by the choir of students chanting “Fight, fight, fight!”; or if after all these years in Hogwarts and surpassing not only the Marauders, but the Weasley Twins as well, she had just developed a sixth sense for ruckus.

“Never.”, McGonnagal exclaimed as she shooed the two boys inside her office. “Never before in all my years in Hogwarts did I have to witness such a lousy behaviour, from two sixth years none the less. Have you completely lost your mind? Fighting in the corridors like some sort of Neanderthals. You should know that here at Hogwarts we follow a strict no violence policy. I can’t even begin to explain how utterly disappointed I am in you.”

From his years’ worth of experience in trouble making and the detentions that were soon to follow Harry knew that being quiet was the best or rather only good decision to make now. It was a lesson Malfoy at one point must have learned as well since he had the decency to remain silent and look guiltily at the floor.

“Fifty points.”, McGonnagal said. “From each of you. And one week of detention. The headmaster will be informed of this incident as well. You will wait here for him until the sorting is over. Until then you can either think about your behaviour or continue fighting, but should latter be the case I fear we’ll see each other for the next two months in detention. Did I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Professor.”, they both said simultaneously.

“I will go greet the first years now.”, she finished and left the room.  

“That bloody hurt.”, Draco said. “Couldn’t you imagine a better way to get us away from there? Like just saying you didn’t want to go to the feast? It’s not like they would have denied golden boy Potter.”

Harry just rolled his eyes. “Shut it. It got the deal done, didn’t it? In a few minutes Dumbledore will be here and then we can discuss you switching sides and how to ensure your safety.”

“Admit it, you just wanted to punch me.”

“Well, to say I didn’t enjoy it would be a lie.”, Harry laughed. “But seriously, no matter what you think I can’t just walk up to the headmaster’s office. Apart from the fact that I wouldn’t be able to enter don’t you think it would be highly suspicious? Us two peacefully walking up to Dumbledore’s office? Some of your companions would blab to their parent’s and before you know it Death Eaters would storm your house and do who knows what to your mother. I promised you that nothing would happen to her should you decide to help us. I am keeping my promise; if I have to take a few hits in the face from you to do so, so be it. Because us two being in a fight? Yeah, that is nothing newsworthy.”

“Thank you.”, Malfoy mumbled, flabbergasted by how much thought Harry had put into this. “That was … that was pretty smart of you.”

“Don’t sound so surprised, you git. I didn’t survive the last sixteen years _just_ by dumb luck. Also, you’re welcome. That way I can at least tell the people in the common room that I beat Draco Malfoy to a pulp.”

“You did not!”, Malfoy said indignantly. “I would have won that fight had McGonnagal not interfered.”

“Did too.”

“Did not.”

“Did too.”

_“Did not.”_

_“Did too.”_

“Boys.”, an amused but kind voice sounded from the doorway. “As much as I prefer bickering to physical violence I would love to hear an explanation for the incident in the entrance hall, which surely was not caused by bad intentions, am I right?”

Malfoy looked dumbfounded by Dumbledore’s sudden appearance and choice of phrasing but Harry had gotten used to the slightly odd behaviour and almost omnipresence of his headmaster. “Draco needs your help, Professor.”, he said with a sigh.

“Is that so?”, Dumbledore asked, still in that amused voice. “Mr Malfoy, please tell me about that problem of yours. I promise to do everything in my power to help you.”

That’s all it took for him to start talking, that is if you could even call that talking. Actually telling the person you are supposed to murder that you are indeed supposed to murder them turned out to be harder than he must have expected, because the nerves left Malfoy a stuttering mess, that at best every now and then managed to speak in an almost incomprehensible way the words dark lord, murder and hostage.

“I see.”, Dumbledore mused when the blonde finally gave up trying to explain. “You are supposed to kill me.”

Harry just sighed because really, of course Dumbledore knew, somehow Dumbledore always knew everything, but Malfoy again didn’t know what to say. “I … how … Yes?”

“But you don’t want to kill me.”, Dumbledore stated in such a calm manner in which some people would discuss whether to have pumpkin pie or treacle tart but surely not an attempt on their early demise.

Malfoy just shook his head. Like he had told Harry already, he might be thinking of the old man as a fool, but he wasn’t ready to become a killer.

“In that case I guess I should thank you, Mr Malfoy. Also I am glad you asked for help. Remember, help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it. I will do anything in my power to ensure your safety in this war.”

“My mother –“, Malfoy started but Dumbledore cut him off. “Will be safe as well. In fact she’s being evacuated from Malfoy Manor this very moment.”

“How?”, he asked in utter disbelief but Dumbledore didn’t answer. There was just this little twinkle in the old man’s eye that told Harry that the conversation was over for today. Malfoy didn’t seem to care too much. He would be safe. More importantly his mother would be safe. For just a second life was good.

“And Harry, I hope I will never again have to be pulled away from the feast because you were participating in a fight with one of your fellow students. I fear I missed out on some delicious looking plum pudding.”

“I’m sorry, Professor.”, Harry said with a shaky laugh because he knew there was no heat behind Dumbledore’s words. “I just thought this was a fool proof way to have a conversation with you without causing any suspicion on why Draco and I would both want to speak to you at the same time.”

“I know that you tried not to endanger Mrs Malfoy any further and that was very thoughtful of you but should you ever again need my assistance please also accept the help Professor McGonnagal and Professor Snape can offer you. The two of them have my fullest trust. And now go to bed, boys. Today has been very long and tiresome for both of you. I’ll make sure to send two house elves to your common rooms to bring you some supper, after all youth shouldn’t have to go to bed with an empty stomach because of a tedious old men’s war. “

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

They walked down the corridor next to each other without speaking. Neither of them knew what to say, the events of the day laying heavily on their shoulders. Too much had changed in the last few hours for the brains of the two young boys to have caught up to it yet.  The awkward silence reached its climax when they reached the staircase that would lead Malfoy down to the Dungeons and Harry up to the Gryffindor common room.

They both just stared at each other while desperately clinging to the handrailing as if it could somehow help them getting over this unpleasant evening.

“For all it’s worth, Harry”, Malfoy said. “I am sorry my aunt killed your godfather.” Then he ran down the stairs as fast as he could without looking back.

Minutes later Harry found himself still standing at the quite literal crossroad dividing Gryffindor and Slytherin staring after the blonde even though he was long gone by now. “Good night, Draco.”, he mumbled before slowly walking up the stairs.

“Harry! What the hell happened?”, was the first thing he heard when he entered the common room. Hermione flung herself at him and almost tackled him to the ground with her fierce hug. “We were so worried!”

“Yeah, mate.”, Ron tossed in. “Are you alright? Looks like Malfoy got you good. I hope he looks even worse than you.”

“This isn’t funny. My god, Harry. Is that blood in your hair?”, she raised her wand, said “Tergeo!” and cleaned him off the dried blood.

Ron just shrugged. “He had it coming, ‘Mione. Anyway, why now? Did something happen while you were on the train?”

“Well, I am not a person to say that I told you so.”, Harry began with a smug grin. “But I so fucking told you so.”

“Are you kidding me? He-who-must-not-be-named really gave Malfoy an order? _Malfoy?_ ”, the redhead asked in disbelieve.

Harry shrugged. “Yeah, he was supposed to kill Dumbledore, but I sorted it out. No big deal.” Ok, Harry thought, he probably was being unnecessarily vague about everything but it served them right for not believing him and waiving his worries off as silly paranoia. “So, how was the feast?”

Both his friends looked at him in shock. “Harry, you can’t just say something like that and then act like it didn’t happen.”, Hermione scolded him.

“Oh, I am terribly sorry.”, Harry said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “I didn’t realise that you suddenly cared about what Draco was up to.”

“Draco? Mate, what the hell?”, Ron asked. “And you are right, we are sorry. We should have listened to you. It’s just … You are under a lot of stress lately and you just lost Sirius. I can imagine that you must feel helpless and I thought that maybe you were projecting this feelings onto Malfoy. You know, him being a person you could possibly stop, should he be up to something. I just wanted to look out for you but I ended up making an ass of myself, didn’t I?” He laughed nervously.

No, no you can’t imagine what it feels like, Harry thought. You still have a family. He decided against voicing these thoughts though, after all it wasn’t Ron’s fault that all of these horrible things happened to him and instead joined Ron’s laughter. “It’s all right, mate. I’m not even that mad. Just please, try to listen to me more often.”

“Could you tell us that story from the beginning?”, Hermione asked when she perceived it save enough to speak. 

And so, while eating some of the sandwiches Dobby had left for him in the common room, Harry told them how he had tried to spy on Draco and had been dishonourably discovered by said blond only to be asked for help in escaping the grip of Voldemort and his death eaters. How Draco and him had staged a fight to inform Dumbledore, as soon and unsuspiciously as possible of the attempt on his life, who of course had already known. How Mrs Malfoy had been evacuated and how they were sent to bed afterwards. He left out the part with Draco offering his condolence because he himself didn’t even know what to make off it yet and mainly because he didn’t feel like bringing Sirius up right now.

“Wait, wait, wait.”, Ron said. “Let me get this straight. Malfoy is on our side now?”

Harry shrugged. “Don’t know. All I know is that he isn’t on Voldemort’s side and that is good enough for me.”

Hermione was nervously fiddling with her robe, clearly trying to find the right words. “Harry, I know that we said that we would listen to you from now on, but are you sure you can trust him? What if it is all some kind of double agent scheme? I mean, we are talking about Malfoy here, you know what he has done to us these last few years.”

And maybe Hermione was right, Hermione was probably right, but he couldn’t have refused to help Draco. It had only been for a tiny moment but Harry had seen a look in the blonde’s eyes that he was painfully familiar with. He had seen that look the first few weeks after the final task of the triwizard tournament every time he had looked into the mirror. The eyes of a scared and broken teenager who had been forced to grow up way too soon. Harry would have bet his beloved Firebolt that Voldemort had used the Cruciatus Curse on Draco. He remembered that feeling still so well, lying on the cold hard graveyard floor, screaming while a pain washed over his body that was worse than knives or electroshocks, a pain that made him feel like losing his mind while wishing for death.  
He would have been damned if he was going to be the reason the blond would have to endure that suffering again.

“’Mione”, Ron said and shot her a warning look which made her scrunch up her nose but left her silent none the less. “You missed the sorting ceremony. Again.”

Harry laughed and felt an unbelievable gratefulness about Ron being his friend. “Did the hat say something interesting?”, he asked while grabbing for a piece of treacle tart Dobby had saved him. He really needed to make Dobby an amazing Christmas gift this year for all the help the little elf had been these last few years.

“Mostly the same things he said last year, about how we need to stand united against our foes or we will crumble from within. Dumbledore’s speech was also not that much more enlightening, we were just told that the security measures around Hogwarts have been upped and that Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes have officially been banned – the twins will be thrilled, they’re not even in business for half a year yet and they’ve already been banned, that’s gotta be a new record, I believe – anyway …”, Ron suddenly looked like he had swallowed a living frog and he was unable to finish the sentence.

“We have a new potions teacher.”, Hermione nervously mumbled.

“Really? That’s great! Why aren’t you happier about this? We’ll never have to see that lousy git again.”, Harry exclaimed excitedly. “Who is it?”

“Slughorn.”, Ron said, now looking seriously ill.

Harry raised a brow. “How? I thought he was the new defence teacher? I mean technically Dumbledore never clarified what position Slughorn would take but I assumed … Wait, if Slughorn isn’t the new defence teacher, then who is?”

Ron and Hermione stayed quiet.

“No.”, Harry said desperately. “No, no, no, no, no. Please tell me this is a sick joke. This is the revenge for what I pulled of earlier, right?”

“Sorry, mate.”, Ron said.

“Why after all this years? Everybody knows that Dumbledore never trusted Snape enough to give him that position.”

“I have no idea.”, Hermione said. “But half of the hall was screaming in protest when Dumbledore announced it so at least we aren’t alone.”

A humourless laugh escaped Harry’s lips. “Great. Defence this year is really going to suck.”

“It can’t be worse than Umbridge, though.”, Hermione tried to cheer him up.

“I hardly believe that any teacher could be worse than Umbridge.”, Harry muttered darkly while carefully touching the _I must not tell lies_ that had been carved into his hand.

“We saw Hagrid. He told us that he can’t wait to see us in his class on Monday and Hermione and I just didn’t have the heart to tell him that we were quitting.”, Ron quickly tried to change the topic. “You’re quitting as well, don’t you?”

Harry guiltily nodded. He didn’t even want to know what Hagrid would say when he realised that his three favorite students would all be quitting his subject.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading the first chapter of "It's Not Paranoia If They Are Really Out To Get You". Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it and say "Hi!" to a pigeon if you see one.
> 
> Was it a good idea to post a not beta-ed story even though English isn't my first language? Probably not. Would I do it again? Definitively. The dialog at the beginning of this chapter is inspired by the original dialog in HBP. I say inspired because I don't own an English version of that book yet and I translated it from my mother tongue. I also took out Harrys little speech about him hoping that Snape would die. Creative freedom and all. Holy shit, that was just so many shades of fucked up.


	2. Chapter Two

The next few weeks could all in all just have been described as weird. Not the _You’re jumping around through memories to find out how to kill an evil magical dictator while half of the female student body is starting to stalk you and yet your two best friends have nothing better to do than to fight over their unresolved but to anybody with eyes obvious romantic tension_ kind of weird which somehow was his sixth year at Hogwarts but the kind of weird he was currently living through with Draco Malfoy.

Draco and him had, to put it easily, absolutely no idea how to act around each other. They mostly avoided each other, only to jell a few slurs at each other and promise to hex each other when their paths every now and then actually collided, but it felt like there was much less spite behind this behaviour and it being more a case of old habits dying hard. Were they supposed to behave like friends? Hell no. Like warriors on the same side of war? Heck, they were still only 16, hardly old enough to take part in a war, let alone to wonder about its formalities. It was just really, really weird.

This is why Harry looked forward to the Slytherin – Gryffindor Quidditch match. Not only was he glad to finally play in a Quidditch match again, especially after the disaster of last year, but meeting Draco on the pitch was something Harry could handle. There wouldn’t have to be thoughts about the long and stained relationship of the two enemies-turned-almost-civil-around-each-other boys and there would be no awkward silence, just the good old fashioned rivalry between two opposing Quidditch Seekers. To say that Harry was disappointed when the big match came and he was not playing against Draco but some big bulky seventh year called Harper instead would have been an understatement.

“Where’s Draco?”, Harry asked angrily after having been blocked by the new Slytherin Seeker for the fourth time.

“None of your business, Potter.”, Harper laughed, circling around Harry.

Harry was slowly getting more and more annoyed by the opposing Seeker. “Well, it is my business if it means I have to play against a loser like you.”

“Watch it, Potter.”, Harper muttered darkly. “Malfoy got kicked out of the team. Served him just right. Who’d want to be around such a disgusting little blood traitor after all?”

Harry instantly felt sorry for the Draco. He knew exactly what it felt like to be avoided and hated by the whole school. Second, fourth and the better part of fifth year really had been hard for him, when people had treated him like some deadly disease you better not got to close to. They had thought him to be an insane freak, an attention seeking liar and even a good damn murderer. Now Draco was hated by the few people who weren’t already hating him simply for being a Slytherin for _not_ being a murderer.

  
Life really sucks, Harry thought as he flew right into Harper and almost knocking him off his broom. That stunt made Madame Hooch allow the Slytherin Chasers a foul shot but Ron, who was still thinking he was under the influence of the luck potion, managed to catch the Quaffel with ease.  
Much to Earnie’s annoyance, who slowly had to admit that maybe Harry hadn’t just put the two Weasleys in the team because they were his friends. 

Harry’s mood started to lighten up when he saw the Snitch shimmering near the Gryffindor goals, completely unnoticed by Harper. He quickly veered his broom round and dashed off, avoiding the Slytherin and Gryffindor Chasers by pulling off some risky turns and a looping. Harper tried to follow him, finally having caught on but he was too late. Harry was already so close to the Snitch, he just had to rise his right arm a little bit more and – Yes! He could feel the wings of the Snitch fluttering in his palm like a little heartbeat. He alighted down to the ground, proudly showing off the Snitch while the crowd cheered for the Gryffindor team. He and Ron hugged, both happy about that easy win after all the Quidditch catastrophes they somehow survived, while Ginny _accidentally_ crashed right into Earnie. While life indeed sucked hard, Quidditch was a saving grace.

 

Harry decided to stand out on the celebration party that was taking place in the common room. Not only was he mildly annoyed at his best friends’ semi-lovers quarrel but he also couldn’t get Draco Malfoy out of his head. He felt bad about not having spared a single thought on his possibly now former enemy all these weeks. That is to say, he had been thinking about Draco; about whether he could really trust him, where Dumbledore might be hiding Mrs Malfoy, if somebody else now had to do Draco’s job; just not about the Slytherin was _actually doing_. Thanks to the Dursleys Harry knew exactly what being completely alone and being hated by the people you lived with felt like. It was a pain that sat so deep inside of him, he wasn’t sure it would ever go away completely and he felt like a complete arsehole for turning a blind eye on the similar pain of another. So now that Harper had drawn Harry’s attention to it he just couldn’t make himself ignore Draco furthermore while he had some mindless fun. Instead he put the Marauder’s map and his cloak in his bag, made a mental note to deal with the train wreck that Lavender full frontal snogging Ron was bound to cause, and snuck out of the portrait hole. When he reached the kitchen, he tickled the pear and as the hidden door swung open he could see dozens of elves running around preparing food and cleaning after themselves. Just one wasn’t throwing himself into work but instead sat on a chair in front of a small radio and bopped his head that was covered by several wool hats to the sound of the music.

“Hello Dobby.”, Harry said as he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. “I am glad I could find you here. If it’s not bothering you too much I would like to ask you for a favour.”

The elf immediately jumped down the chair and trotted over to Harry, his too large brown sweater swinging with every step. “Harry Potter is not bothering Dobby at all, it’s Dobby’s free day. Dobby will gladly help Harry Potter! Dobby missed Harry Potter!”

“It’s nice seeing you again, too. You see, the favour … you can say no of course, I would not hold it-“, Harry started to say but was stopped by the high-pitched sound of Dobby’s crying.

“Harry Potter says it’s nice seeing Dobby! It’s an honour! Dobby won’t say no, no. Dobby will do anything Harry Potter asks!”

“That is very kind Dobby, but I want you to listen to me and let me finish before you agree, okay?” He checked to see if Dobby understood and saw the elf eagerly if still teary eyed nod his head. “Great. I know how glad you are not to work for the Malfoys anymore. I know that at least Lucius Malfoy threated you absolutely horrible. But I would like you to tell me how Draco was to you. Can you do that, without feeling like you should harm yourself?”

Dobby nodded again. “Dobby isn’t knowing young Master Draco well. Dobby was Master Lucius personal elf. Other elves were tending to Mistress Narcissa and young Master Draco. Mistress and young Master were not that bad to Dobby. Not like Master Lucius.”

Harry gave Dobby another sceptical look and decided that it would be okay. “Draco is not well, lately, and I want to try to cheer him up. I wanted to ask you if you could maybe prepare some food that he likes?”

Dobby’s eyes started to tear up again. “Harry Potter is so kind! Always thinking about others first. Dobby will gladly help Harry Potter!”

 

 

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Harry found Draco in an empty classroom next to what, even though it was being used again, would to him forever be known as the forbidden corridor. “Hey Draco, I –“, he started but immediately stopped himself. On the floor, right next to the teacher’s desk, sat Draco, crying. Tears were streaming down his pale face and he looked so vulnerable that Harry didn’t know what to say.

Draco would have beat him to it anyway. “GET OUT”, the blonde screamed as soon as he saw Harry and drew his wand. _“_ _Densaugeo!“_

Harry ducked and countered with the first spell that came to his mind. He had found _Levicorpus_ , in the Prince’s book and while he had not used it yet the Prince hadn’t let him down so far. With a flick of his wand a bright light emerged and Draco was dangling upside down in mid air.

“LET ME DOWN!”, Draco roared and Harry, too shocked to really get what just happened, let his wand down which caused Draco to fall with a loud bumping sound to the floor.

“Fuck you, Potter.”, the Slytherin said while rubbing his now aching bones.

“I am sorry, I didn’t know that would happen.”, Harry said, trying to look guilty.

“Have you completely lost your mind? Using as spell you don’t know on me? You could have fucking killed me!”

He knew that Draco was right, using a unknown spell could be highly dangerous and putting another person in such a risky position was just plain horrible, but Harry would rather bite his own tongue off instead of admitting that out loud. Instead he nervously rubbed his neck and said: “I am sorry. But hey, I was lucky.”

If possible that made Draco even angrier. “Oh that’s right, I forgot. Why should you think your actions trough? It’s not like there are any consequences for you. After all you are the chosen one. The boy who lived. Lucky golden boy Potter who always gets what he wants.”

And while Draco had every right to be angry about being used as a guinea pig for a possibly dangerous spell the choice of words still made something inside of Harry snap.

"Lucky golden boy? Have you any idea what I have been through? Do you think I asked to be the chosen one? - Shut up, Malfoy, I am not finished! - Have you any idea what being chosen by Voldemort means? My parents were killed! I grew up with my abusive muggle family! I used to sleep in a fucking cupboard until I was elven! Every year since then I always end up almost dying! I've been tortured, my godfather has been killed and I am supposed to somehow save the world or die trying! If you so desperately want to be in my place and be the chosen one. Be. My. Guest."

And suddenly they were both standing there, both crying and unable to comprehend what just happened. Draco was the first to pull himself together and slowly stepped closer and hugged Harry and Harry started petting Draco's back.

“This is so fucking weird.”, Draco mumbled into Harrys neck, tears still streaming down their face.

Later they would agree that they hadn’t been crying into each other’s robes. Of course they hadn’t. And if they had … Well, the boys had every reason to. Only sixteen years old and already tortured, tasked to kill and tossed aside. Outcasts. But for now in this dark classroom they had each other.

 

 

“Do you think it will ever stop? The war I mean?”, Draco asked while unpacking another one of the cream filled Devon Scones Dobby had packed for him. “Merlin’s beard, these are amazing. How did you even know they were my favourite? Damn it, aren’t you just perfect?”

“I am really not”, Harry laughed. “I asked Dobby to make you your favourite food. And yes. The war will end. I’ll make sure it does.”

“How come you’re so sure of it? You’re still so young. And while - as much as I hate to admit it - you’re bloody fantastic in defence, it’s not on his level. I’ve seen first-hand what that monster is capable off.”

“So have I. But I have to have hope. I need to believe that I can win against him or I could just toss myself down the astronomy tower.”

“It’s true, isn’t it? Chosen one and all that shit. The world really rests on your shoulders.”, Draco said, fidgeting with the paper the scone had been wrapped in. “Tell me something nice about yourself.”

“Oh I’m a real ladies man. Haven’t you heard? All the girls line up to give me love potions.”, Harry said bitterly.

Draco rolled his eyes. “Ha-fucking-ha. That’s nothing nice, that’s date rape. You should probably consult McGonagall about that. Honestly now, I actually don’t know anything about you that isn’t gossip. Tell me something about Harry, not the Chosen one.”

“Fine, ok. Let me think about something… I must not tell lies.”

“Yes, Harry, it would be nice if it was something true.”, Draco deadpanned.

“No.”, Harry laughed and held up his hand. “Really, I must not tell lies.”

Draco’s face became even paler if possible as he grabbed for Harry’s hand to inspect the words that were carved into his skin. “What the fuck? Why do you have something like that?”

“Umbridge. She made me use a Black Quill all through last year, for telling the truth. Only Ron and Hermione know about it. And well, you now.”

“I will make her suffer.”, Draco decided.

“Really? I’m touched. How you’re gonna do that?”

“I don’t know yet but I will think about something. I am a Slytherin, I am resourceful.”

“It’s not like you have much to do in that dungeon of yours anyway but staring at the merpeople and plotting, do you?”, Harry joked.

“Excuse you. I must inform you that the Slytherin common room is very … Wait a minute. How do you know that we can see the merpeople from our common room?”

Harry grinned. “I’ve been there. Don’t you remember?”

“I think I would remember having such a git of a Gryffindor in my common room.”

“Second year. Ron and I were there. We might have been looking a bit like Crabbe and Goyle but honestly, I am offeded that you can’t remember the first time I visited you.”, Harry joked.

“I KNEW THERE WAS SOMETHING FISHY ABOUT THAT”, Draco yelled. “You’re a fucking git, do you know that?”

“Possibly.”

Draco pouted. “The first time? Will there be more?”

“Maybe.”

In his first year Harry had found out that there were some things you couldn’t go through together without becoming friends. This talk was one of those things. Fuck his life.

  

 

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Being friends with Draco was weird. Heck, this whole year was weird. Weird was slowly becoming his new normal. Their whole friendship was a lot of teasing each other and hexing each other with silly jinxes and Harry really enjoyed it. But they would also often meet up in the room of requirement in the middle of the night because one of them had had flashbacks in their dreams of being tortured or about their upbringing. Talking to Draco about these horrors was strangely freeing. He loved Ron and Hemione with all his heart, but they would never be able to truly comprehend what he had had to endure or how it felt to have a broken family. Especially talking about the torture with them would always end with them fussing over him and telling him how sorry they were which only made him feel more broken. Draco on the other hand would just hug him and say “I know, it sucks.”. And sometimes that was the only thing Harry really needed.

The only downside own being Draco’s friend was that it made everything so much more complicated with his other friends. Ron and Hermione at least tried to be civilized with him and it really helped that slowly Draco had started to realize that the blood purity thing was a whole lot of bollocks. The rest of the school on the other hand was pretty much unbearable. There were those who already mistrusted Draco simply for being a Slytherin and then there were the Slytherins who used every waking second to make Draco’s life hell. It got so bad in the dungeons that Draco couldn’t go to sleep without safety wards. Hell completely broke loose when Apparation class started.

“Scared, Harry?”, Draco laughed after Wilkie Twycross finished his introduction speech on Apparation and Disapparation.

“You wish, Draco.”, he answered and stuck out his tongue.

“I’m so going to beat you to this.”

“Yeah? Like you beat me in potions all the time?”

Draco rolled his eyes. “That bezoar was really a dick move.”

Harry just shrugged. “I guess I learned from the best.”

Apparation, as is turned out, was much harder than it looked. Harry spun a few times around himself but nothing happened apart from him feeling dizzy. The rest of the class wasn’t doing better, many did worse actually. For example, Ernie Macmillan ended up doing a pirouette and being laughed at by Dean Thomas and Neville landed straight on his back. The tutor didn’t seem to be surprised by this and urged them to try again. The first exiting thing happened in round three, but Harry really wished it hadn’t. There was a loud and painfilled scream next to him and Harry turned to Draco horrified. The Slytherin had managed to actually land in his hoop but had left three fingers of his right hand and half of his robe on the way. Draco was still screaming and the other students joined him, even though their reasons were completely different. Even the tutors that were supposed to help in such a situation slowly backed away because now, clearly visible for everybody in the hall, was the dark mark on Draco’s right arm in all of its ugly glory. Within seconds the students were yelling slurs at Draco, demanding that he’d be expelled. Not a single person but Harry seemed to care for the pain Draco had to be in right now.

“Leave Draco the fuck alone.”, Harry yelled and rushed over to his friend, deciding that he didn’t care if they all started hating him again. Screw the saying, fourth time had to be the charm, right? “Are  you really as stupid as you look? Do you actually think I would be friends with him if he was a death eater? Nobody is going to expel him and you are all going to shut up and help him now, or I swear I will set the most venomous snakes I can find after all of you.”

"Mr Potter.", he could hear Snape's sneer through the great Hall. 

He was probably going to lose a whole lot of points for threatening to send deadly animals after his classmates but right now he couldn’t care less. Should Snape try to stop him from helping his friend he would make sure that his professor would remember what a Potter could do to him. 

"Please escort Mr Malfoy to the hospital wing, I will deal with this situation."

"I won – Wait, what?”, Harry mumbled. “Yes. Yes of course.”

 

 

"I can't believe you threatened those losers because of me.", Draco said after Madame Pomfrey had patched him back together.

Harry just shrugged. "I can be resourceful, too.”

“That wasn’t resourceful, that was typical gryffindoresque head through wall thinking.”, Draco laughed.

Harry laughed too. “Stop complaining, you drama queen.”

“I’m not complaining. The chosen one declaring his affection for me to the whole school and coming to my rescue. Pretty sure half the wizarding world would kill to be in my shoes.”

“Funny.”, Harry said and watched Draco trying to get more comfortable in the hospital bed. His eyes flicked to the Dark Mark on the blonde’s arm, who quickly hid it under the blanket when he noticed. Draco’s face immediately lost all its colour and the two of them looked at each other, the uncomfortable silence hanging over them like the frosty presence of a Dementor.

Harry cleared his throat. “Do you want to tell me something?"

“I never lied to you. I _am_ on your side. This changes nothing. Please.”, Draco whispered, fighting back tears.

“That’s not what I meant.”, Harry said and took Dracos unharmed hand. “I trust you. I just wanted to know why you didn’t tell me. Don’t you trust me too?”

“Of course I trust you!”, Draco exclaimed, shocked. “I just hate this thing so much. They burned it into my skin last summer. I can feel it almost all the time. I feel it when he calls them. I feel this unbelievable pain and know that something bad is going to happen. That people are probably being killed right now. And there is nothing I can do to ever get rid of it. I will forever be tainted. And I was just so very afraid. You’ve seen how they reacted. How could you still want to be my friend if you knew how damaged I really was? How could you ever look at me again and see anything but a reminder of all the misery you had been put through? I was so scared you would start hating me again.”

“I am sorry. You're still my friend. You’re right, this changes nothing.", was all Harry was able to say while Draco started crying onto his shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading the second chapter of "It's Not Paranoia If They Are Really Out To Get You". Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it and say "Hi!" to a pigeon if you see one.
> 
> Dobby deserves all the socks in the world for Christmas. Spread the word!


	3. Chapter Three

“I can’t believe all these girls are still after you after you basically threatened the whole school.”, Ron said as a group of giggling third year girls walked past their table in the Three Broomsticks.

“The heart wants what the heart wants, doesn’t it?”, Harry joked bitterly. “Honestly though, I am really sick of it.”

“Understandable. How has Draco been since that incident?”, Hermione asked, nipping on her butterbeer.

“Better, I think. People are bugging him less about the whole death eater family thing. Not sure if they are really afraid of me attacking them for giving him hell like they were in second year or if they finally realised that _The Chosen One_ probably knows best who’s a death eater and who isn’t. The Slytherin common room is still basically a landmine, though.”

“A what?”, Ron asked. “Oh speaking of the devil, there he comes. Took you long enough, I was starting to wonder if you fell into the loo.” He joked as Draco reached their table.

His face was as pale as a wall and it was hard to follow his words because he was talking so fast. “We need to go. Something bad’s going to happen. A Hufflepuff boy was put under the Imperius when he left the men’s restroom. Somebody gave him a package.”

“Calm down, Draco.”, Hermione said. “Why do you think he was under the Imperius Curse? Maybe you’re just over reacting.”

“Are you fucking kidding me, Granger?”, Draco deadpanned. “I recognize the Unforgiveables when I see them. That boy was clearly under it. We need to get going, _now_ , before he does something stupid.”

“We shouldn’t rush into things. There is no way of knowing what he is going to do, even if he is indeed under the Imperius Curse.” Hermione tried to argue. “We should at least get a teacher.”

“Then you and Ron will look for a teacher. I think I’ve seen Flitwick at the post station. Draco and I will look for the boy to make sure nothing happens to him.” Harry said, grabbed Draco by the arm and pulled the blonde with him as he left the pub.

“He’s after Dumbledore, isn’t he?”, he asked once they were outside.

“Probably.”, Draco agreed. “I mean, technically he could be after you, or even me, for being a traitor, but since he is right now walking away from us that is somewhat unlikely. Anyway, how come you believe this so easily?”

“Rule number one: just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that they aren’t after you. It’s not like I wasn’t suspecting something like this. Their chosen killer may have switched sides but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to see Dumbledore dead anymore. It seems like it just took them some time to find somebody else that could do the job.”

“You mean to tell me I’m replaceable?”, Draco asked mock offended. “That really hurts my feelings.”

“Funny. Do you have a plan how to stop him from killing Dumbledore? There is no counter curse, isn’t it?”, Harry said as they hurried up the street to Hogwarts, which took longer than he had hoped for thanks to the heavy sleet and the frozen mud on the ground.

“Yes, there is no counter curse. So we’ll probably have to stun him.”

“We can’t just attack him!”, Harry exclaimed.

“What, is that reserved only for people who are mean to me? I am sure at one point in his life he probably insulted my hair.”, Draco mocked. “Seriously, Harry. Sometimes you need to harm people to prevent them from harming themselves or somebody else even worse. The only way to fight the Imperus Curse is by will power. Obviously that Hufflepuff is seriously lacking on that department so we have to make sure that he can’t act on that curse until it has become so weak on its own that he can throw it off.”

Harry really didn’t like the idea of harming an innocent person even for the greater good but deep down he knew that Draco was right. Not that he would ever say so out loud. Instead they walked silently next to each other, the only sound to be hear the howling wind until not too far away in front of them they could make out two figures.

“You’re acting strange.”, the blonde Ravenclaw girl said. “What’s the deal with you?”

“Don’t be ridiculous”, the dark haired Hufflepuff boy answered. “I’m acting perfectly normal. You’re just jealous because I got a present by a pretty girl.”

“Since you’re my boyfriend I think even if I were jealous about that I would have every reason to.”, she said, her face becoming slowly red from anger. “And you won’t even tell me who gave it to you or what’s in that package.”

The boy held onto the small package even more tightly, as if he feared his girlfriend would steal it every second now. “Because it’s none of your business, Orla.”

“Well, Derek, if it’s none of my business, we should probably just break up.”

“I really don’t care.”, Derek said before he suddenly fell right over, face first into the snow.

Orla screamed and Harry looked to his right were Draco stood with his wand out. “Was that really necessary?”, he asked accusingly.

Draco shrugged. “Seemed like the best idea, before he destroyed his relationship even more.”

“What the hell did you do that for?”, Orla demanded to know while she kneeled on the cold ground to see if her maybe-ex-boyfriend was alright.

“That I would like to know as well.”, a voice from behind them asked.

As they turned around they could see Ron, Hermione and Professor Flitwick who looked like they had run all the way from the post office.

“They just attacked Derek!”, Orla sobbed. “I don’t know what they did to him.”

“Calm down, he is just stunned. No big deal.”, Draco said, earning himself a foot stomp from Harry and a mean glare from Hermione.

“Mr Weasley and Ms Granger told me you four suspected Mr Hamsher here to be under the Imperus Curse.”, Professor Flitwick stated.

“Yes, Professor.”, Harry started to explain. “Draco witnessed Derek getting cursed on his way back from the toilets in the Three Broomsticks. Somebody gave him a package. We didn’t know what’s inside but we suspected that it had to be dangerous if it had something to do with an Unforgivable Curse. So we decided to split up, Hermione and Ron were to look for a teacher and Draco and I would make sure that nothing bad happens to Derek until they’re back.”

“While I normally can’t encourage students to attack each other you did the right thing. This could have ended up much worse given the circumstances.” Flitwick levitated both Derek and the still wrapped package. “I will bring Mr Hamsher to the hospital wing. Miss Quirke, you should accompany me, Miss Pomfrey will surely want to give you something for your nerves and I would like to talk to you about what happened today. Will you four be alright?”

Ron, Hermione, Harry and Draco nodded and watched the still sobbing Orla and Professor Flitwick walk up to the school while Derek floated next to them.

“I am sorry, Draco.”, Hermione mumbled once the Professor and Orla were out of hearing distance. “I should have listened to you. I don’t even want to think about what could have happened had you not interfered.”

“That was really cool of you.”, Ron agreed.

It took a few weeks in the hospital wing before Derek was able to throw the curse off completely but apart from missing classes nothing bad had happened to him. As it turned out Draco stunning Derek had probably saved the boy’s life because inside the package had been a necklace that held a deadly curse that could kill with the first body contact. It hadn’t been the smartest plan to kill Dumbledor, Hermione had remarked later, because the necklace would never have made it through the wards of the school. Draco had agreed with her, saying the killer was probably someone stupid like Crabbe or Goyle but had also thrown in that that would make them even more dangerous, because they didn’t care who they harmed on the way.

 

 

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While sadly the cursed necklace was only the beginning of a series of murder attempts on Dumbledore that eventually caused Ron to end up poisoned in the hospital wing at least it made Ron and Hermione trust Draco on their own, not only because they trusted Harry. Not that Harry was sure if he liked the new friendship of Ron and Draco because he somehow ended up at the bad end of it. The two of them bonded over their shared love for chess and making fun of Harry’s love life.

The girls chasing after Harry were getting more and more persistent with every attempt at asking him out or trying to slip him a love potion. Even though he had indeed informed Professor McGonnagal about it as Draco had suggested there wasn’t much she could do to prevent it. She had told him that love potions were indeed highly unethical and forbidden at Hogwarts and that she wished she could help him but if the wards of the castle couldn’t detect them she had no way of stopping them from getting into the castle and she could only give out detentions once he reports what already happened to her. So Ron and Draco continued joking about Harry’s way with the ladies. Ron, because he was just a tiny bit jealous of Harry, Draco because he didn’t see any real harm in it since the girls while being annoying were no were close to successfully slipping Harry a love potion. That changed when Romilda Vane, who was by far the most determined to date The Chosen One, almost succeeded.

“Don’t drink that.”, Draco said one Saturday morning at the Gryffindor table and slapped Harry’s pumpkin juice out of his hand for good measure.

“What the hell, Draco?”, Harry asked offended and reached for his wand to dry himself. “What are you even doing here? Your table’s at the other end of the room, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“Love potion.”, Draco said as if that would explain everything before he kissed Harry. “Stay away from the pumpkin juice. See you later, honey.”

With that the Slytherin went back to his own table and left Harry to stare dumbfounded after him.

“Don’t you want to tell me something, mate?”, Ron asked accusingly.

Hermione slapped his head from behind. “That’s none of your business, Ronald. Also you should get your own house in order first.”

“My house is in order, thank you very much!”, he defended himself. “Who should mind his own business here?”

“You’re unbelievable!”, Hermione said angrily and stomped off, something that was becoming quite a regular view lately.

“Women!”, Ron exclaimed. He started munching his porridge again, leaving Harry to his thoughts.

Kissing Draco hadn’t been that bad. Very unexpected and very short but much less wet than kissing Cho Chang, which was an improvement. Harry was still very confused. When had Draco developed feelings for him? Was he as oblivious as Ron and just didn’t notice what was right in front of him? How could he let his friend down kindly? Damnit, he wasn’t even sure if he wanted to let Draco down. He had never given it a thought but they were friends. Being friends was always a good basis for a relationship. And Draco was somewhat attractive, he guessed. He had nice hair and pretty eyes. But boyfriends? Harry was sure that he should at least have a say in that matter! Harry looked over to the Slytherin table were Draco sat eating  his toast like he had not a care in the world and hadn’t just randomly kissed his best friend. He’d really need to talk to him after breakfast. This year was really killing him.

 

“What was that earlier?”, Harry demanded to know when he later found Draco in the empty classroom next to the forbidden corridor.

“What exactly do you mean?”, Draco asked innocently.

Harry blushed. “You just kissed me!”

“Isn’t that something boyfriends do? I wouldn’t know, believe it or not but I am not quite such a ladies man as you are.”

“Shut up, Draco!”, Harry said angrily. “You know exactly that I just want to be left alone by all these girls.”

Draco laughed. “And that’s the reason we’re boyfriends now.”

Harry was getting confused again. “What?”

“I overheard Romilda Vane yesterday talking to some of her friends. She was bragging about having found a way to spike your pumpkin juice. So I decided that you being stalked by all those girls was getting dangerously out of hand and they probably wouldn’t stop as long as your still on the market.”, he made a little bow. “May I introduce, Draco Malfoy, the perfect fake boyfriend.”

“That’s smart.”, Harry agreed. “But couldn’t you just have talked to me about it first? You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Sure, but it was funnier this way.”

“You’re a fucking git! Just my luck ending up with such a horrible boyfriend.”

“I could tell that Vane girl that we just broke up?”, Draco suggested.

“Don’t you dare.”, Harry laughed. He could do that, fake dating Draco. After all Draco was just looking out for his friend, nothing more and nothing less.

 

Of course Harry had been right and he was indeed as oblivious as Ron when it came to relationships because without even noticing at one point the fake dating had become real dating.

“Don’t stop.”, Draco sighed as Harry ran his hands through his hair.

They had asked the Room of Requirement for a place to relax since the Hogwarts founders clearly hadn’t put into thought that students from different houses might want to hang out with each other outside of the library. That room had somehow become their own little sanctuary. Harry was seated against the backrest of a cozy couch while Draco was sprawled over the whole thing with his head resting on Harrys lap.

“You’re so needy”, Harry laughed but continued nonetheless.

Draco stuck out his tongue. “I’m going with you to Slughorn’s Easter party, this is the least you can do to compensate me.”

“It’s not that bad.”, Harry said. “The food is very good.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “That makes it all the worse. Good food means that the bad company will stay there even longer.”

“Hermione is coming too, you know.”, Harry reminded him.

“Great, which idiot is she bringing this time?”

Harry groaned at the reminder of the disaster at Slughorn’s Christmas party. “I still can’t believe she actually brought McLaggen just to make Ron jealous.”

“I thought so. As much as a like Hermione and Ron this lover’s quarrel really needs to end. It makes them both unbearable. And now stop trying to sugar coat that evening for me, I know for a fact that you hate it there as much as I do.”

“You get to show off how good you look in that dress robes of yours.”, Harry joked.

“Do my ears betray me or did you just call me handsome?”, Draco smirked. “Took you long enough to finally realise what a catch I am.”

Harry mock gasped. “And so humble, too!”

“Don’t forget incredibly charming and smart.”

“Of course!”, Harry nodded. “Shall I write that down before or after ‘a huge git’?”

“Surprise me.”, the blonde said and winked.

Harry rolled his eyes. “Merlin’s beard, why did I even agree to be your fake boyfriend?”

“Because I’m a fantastic kisser and you love me.”

“True, but at what cost?” The words were out before he had the chance to think about it.

Draco immediately sat up, looking at Harry with huge eyes. “Did you mean that?”

Harry’s thoughts wandered to all those nights they had spent in this room, how they were able to give each other comfort when nobody else could and how he would have damned the world for Draco on that day the blonde had splintered himself. How amazing it felt everytime Draco hugged him and how he secretly wished he would kiss him not only for show. “Yeah”, he realised and let out a soft laugh. Just his luck that he fell in love with his friend without even noticing it. “I guess I do.”

Thankfully Draco didn’t even give him time to worry whether his feelings might be unrequited. The Slytherin’s eyes lit up like he just saw colour for the first time and he pressed his lips against Harry’s. “I love you, too.”

 

Ron teased them for days after this for being such oblivious dorks but thankfully shut up when Hermione reminded him that at least they were not hiding from their girlfriend because they were too scared to break up with her.

 

 

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“I don’t have much time”, Harry panted. “Dumbledore thinks I’m only getting my cloak.”

He quickly explained where he was going and why. He didn’t stop talking, neither for Hermione’s terrified gasp nor for Ron’s questions.

“Dumbledore won’t be here tonight so whoever is behind all these attacks will have free reign over the school. No, listen!”, he demanded angrily as Ron and Hermione tried to interrupt him. “You promised you would listen to me. Something bad is going to happen I know it. Take the map and watch out for any Slytherins acting strangely. Also keep an eye on Snape. Assemble the DA – those special galleons, they’re still working, aren’t they? – they won’t expect a bunch of students to be ready to fight.”

“Harry-“, Hermione started with fear filled eyes.

“I don’t have time to discuss.”, Harry said harshly and handed Ron the socks. “Take this, too.”

“Thanks”, Ron said. “But what do I need old and – sorry – kinda smelly socks for?”

“That’s what’s left of the Felix Felicis. Well, most of what’s left. I’m going to bring some to Draco as well. Share this, you’ll need it. I have to go now.”

“No!”, Hermione said. “We don’t want it. You’ll take it, who knows what awaits you!”

“Nothing’s going to happen to me, Dumbledore’s with me. Don’t give me that look, I’ll see you guys later!”.

He didn’t give Ron or Hermione the chance to say anything else and ran back out of the portrait hole and to the classroom next to the forbidden corridor where he had told Draco to wait for him.

“Finally!”, the Slytherin exclaimed when he saw Harry approaching. “I’ve been waiting for hours. I really hope this is important.”

“Please, just for five minutes don’t be a git.”, Harry said. “I’m leaving Hogwarts for a few hours with Dumbledore. I can’t really tell you what’s up right now, but I need you to trust me. Something bad is going to happen tonight, I know it. I already talked to Ron and Hermione, go looking for them when I am gone, they’ll explain it to you. Anyway, I need you to drink this.”

Draco looked at the golden liquid Harry was holding up in a tiny flacon and gasped. “Is that …? No. No, Harry. I won’t take your luck. I know you, whatever you’re up to is probably absolutly reckless and borderline suicidal. You’ll need every piece of luck you can get.”

“I don’t have time to fight with you over this. I need you to drink the Felix.”

Draco shook his head stubbornly. “I won’t take your luck.”

“Fine, you leave me no choice.”, Harry said with frustration and pushed Draco against the wall. He held the Slytherin in place with his body and forcefully made him drink the luck potion.

“Fuck you!”, Draco screamed as soon as Harry had loosened his grip.

“Love you, too.”, Harry said and smiled.

Draco pulled him closer again and kissed him with such desperation as if he feared Harry would vanish as soon as he let him go. “Go save the world. And keep your ugly head alive.”

Harry laughed and sprinted off again.

“If you don’t come back to me I’ll move on to Neville!”, Draco yelled after him.

Maybe Harry was just a tiny bit jealous as he threw over his cloak and ran back to Dumbledore.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

The pain of Dumbledore’s death still felt very fresh even days after the funeral. He ran his hand over the medallion of R.A.B. that would forever serve him as a reminder that there was just no way of escaping this war and he couldn’t keep the people he cared about save.

He had been thinking about this a lot now. A voice inside of him urged him to be selfish, to damn the consequences. What would a year ago have sounded like the biggest lie Harry could imagine had somehow become reality. Draco Malfoy made him happy and he didn’t want to lose this happiness ever again. But he needed to destroy it all, because that was the only way he could keep Draco alive. After Snape had killed Dumbledore the Death Eaters had concentrated their lust for murder onto Draco. Especially Bellatrix Lestrange had been yelling with an almost childish delight about how she couldn’t wait to kill her favourite blood traitor nephew. He didn’t even want to imagine what would have happened to Draco hadn’t Harry earlier made him drink the liquid luck. Just to imagine the danger Draco would be in if he’d be in any way involved in the horcrux hunt was something that brought Harry close to throwing up.

He quickly brushed the tears away when he heard somebody walk up to him from behind. “You wanted to see me?”, Draco asked and sat down next to Harry.

“Yeah. We need to talk.”, Harry said. “I … Fuck, I don’t even know how to say this.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “Let me guess, it’s something heroic and selfless about not wanting to endanger me?”

Harry grinned. “Somewhat along the lines. You make me really happy and I really wish we had stopped this whole feud earlier. We could have had so much time together. But with Voldemort –“

“Yeah, forget it.”, Draco cut him off and reached out for his hand. “I’m going with you, golden boy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading "It's Not Paranoia If They Are Really Out To Get You". I had a lot of fun writing it and really hope you liked it. Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it and say "Hi!" to a pigeon if you see one.


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